A Novel Evening with Nicholas Royle and Alison Moore

MMU Student Press Office Journalist Liam Stewart shares his account of a wonderful reading from two local authors, Thursday, 24th January, IABF

Nicholas Royle

In the suitably literary surroundings of the International Anthony Burgess Foundation, I had the pleasure of attending an evening with Nicholas Royle and Alison Moore.  Both authors have had recently published novels;  in 2012, Alison’s first novel, The Lighthouse was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, and Nicholas’s seventh and most recent, First Novel, was released at the start of January to much critical acclaim; Dazed and Confused magazine describing it as 'A cutting-edge, vital new British novel'.

Nicholas opened the evening with a reading from First Novel; a tantalising extract that painstakingly described an examination of, and an attempt to, dismantle that most controversial of literary devices: Kindle. An action described in such a way as to suggest the sort of trepidation a Neanderthal may have felt when he first discovered fire.

Following this, Alison read an extract from her book The Lighthouse, a narrative that has caused quite a stir in the literary world, and from this extract it is easy to see why, as the crowd was drawn in with its bleak, yet elegant, prose.

Alison Moore

Both authors then jointly spoke of their relationship as author and editor and we were able to gain an insight into the creative processes and inspiration behind each text. The audience were invited to put questions to the authors in what made for a thrilling exchange, as we were given a glimpse into the context and background of both texts and authors.

Alison Moore's  The Lighthouse

After the event I had the opportunity to speak to Nicholas about his varied roles as author, editor, reviewer, and also senior lecturer in creative writing at MMU. A lifestyle he describes as “increasingly busy and increasingly stressful”. Nicholas spoke of the inspiration he finds in the work of his students, describing how “Some of the work produced by my students is so good; that in itself is inspiring”. Nicholas spoke of his pleasure at seeing students such as Kieran Devaney’s work published and his satisfaction at helping his students achieve their goals.

Nicholas went on to discuss the inspiration behind First Novel being “real things and real people”, a topic he spoke of during the evening when he revealed that he had adapted certain local Didsbury characters for walk-in parts within the novel. This fascination with his surroundings seems to be what drives Nicholas’s imagination, rather than any desire to sell vast quantities of books; as he revealed, “I don’t write novels to make money; I write them out of a certain internal compulsion”.  Nicholas also proclaimed First Novel to be “my favourite by a long way” as well as speaking of his satisfaction at the finished text, after it took a grand total of seven years to complete.

Nicholas Royle's First Novel

This compulsion also seems to be something that drives Nicholas’s work as an editor, as he described editing Alison’s The Lighthouse as a, “hands on” task, proclaiming that “you can’t be objective about your own work”. Indeed,the relationship between the two authors is one that has borne wonderful fruit in the form of The Lighthouse and First Novel.

This evening served as a reminder of the wonderful creative talent and literary heritage we have amongst the MMU staff and within the city. I was left with a compulsion to immediately set out and read both novels, as I am sure all those in attendance would have also felt, given the queue of people with book in hand, clamouring for a signature on their newly purchased novels; something to take away as a lasting memory of a wonderful evening.

For more information on the Manchester Writing School visit: www.mmu.ac.uk/writingschool

Carol Ann Duffy with Company and Sean O'Brien

Carol Ann Duffy and Friends, Monday, 7th January, Royal Exchange Theatre 

Words by Student Press Office journalist, Sophie Bannister
Photographs by Sara Ellis

The stage is set at the Royal Exchange Theatre

Sean O’Brien is the star of this particular poetry night. He boasts a T.S. Eliot Prize, two Forward Poetry Prizes, a Royal Society of Literature fellowship, and many more prestigious honours. He is clearly a showman, at ease with performing, and enjoys making the audience laugh. His poetry has a steely, political edge, which influences noises of agreement from his audience, nods and claps. Sean does not rush into his readings but spends time introducing each poem properly, interacting with the audience as he does so.

One of my favourite poems of the night is a particularly sarcastic and well-performed piece called ‘The Thing’, which is about the experience of working in the theatre and highlights some artistic differences that occur between writer and director.

Soon, we’re back to the political topic which Sean epitomises well. He sums up our current situation with entertaining descriptions and thoughtful insights. Newcastle, his home, also crops up repetitively in his poetry and through his descriptions of it, we get this small insight into Sean’s personal life. He flits between what he calls ‘sombre’ and ‘frivolous’ poems which keeps the mood light, and the audience engaged.

Sean’s performance is enjoyable, a real treat for the audience. We all feel both impressed and privileged to see this great poet doing what he does best – reading the poetry he has so carefully crafted.

Sean O'Brien takes to the stage

Sean O’Brien is the perfect ending to a night of two halves, the first of which contains both Carol Ann Duffy and a selection of MMU’s finest creative writing postgraduates. The MMU postgraduates who are performing this evening each have a distinctive voice portrayed through their engaging poetry.

First up, Colin Bancroft, draws upon some shocking personal experiences to create poetry that is thought-provoking and comprises of the difficult issue of violent knife crime within society. Although shocking, it is entertaining, with interesting imagery and engrossing plots. We are given the viewpoints of the victim, the attacker, the aftermath of the attack, and vivid, haunting imagery of a, ‘serrated blade, handle white.’ It is clear that he is very much affected by the events depicted in his poetry, so it must have been difficult to decide upon performing these particular poems. When speaking to him, there is the sense that Colin’s time at MMU has allowed him to confront his experiences through writing. He explains how MMU has influenced his writing; ‘It’s brought me on leaps and bounds through the tutoring that I’ve had and the opportunities to work with such great poets’. Colin intends to gain a PhD at MMU once he has completed his MA course explaining that he wants to stay at MMU, ‘because of the university and staff’.

Next in the spotlight is Rebecca Audra Smith. Her reading begins with some unusual love poems and continues onto surprisingly controversial topics. She speaks of gender identity, of a friend who is saving for top surgery and explores the Gemma Barker case (in which Gemma impersonated men to start relationships with other girls) in three poems, which she explains she wrote because, ‘The whole point of poetry is that you’re being honest with yourself, and you cannot ‘fake out’ your reading by only showing certain-faced people.’ Obviously, this was a huge task to undertake. ‘My tutor, Adam O’Riorden, encouraged me to explore the Gemma Barker case. He thought it was an interesting case [that] showed a lot of potential for grey areas.’

Rebecca seems to have flourished under the eye of MMU’s creative writing tutors and explains that, although she had an interview at University of Manchester, the differences between the two courses made her turn to MMU. She has clearly taken full advantage of her time at Manchester through participating in projects like this and her own brainchild, Stirred, which she runs alongside her friend Anna Percy.

Finally, Joe Hobson takes to the stage. He has already graduated from MMU and in the time since, has run a very successful book club and open mike night in Chester, where he currently lives. His poetry is very much based on detail and imagery. Joe takes everyday occurrences such as a quiet train ride or rainfall, then brings it to life with his attentive descriptions and carefully crafted writing style. We are given an insight into his progressive writing style; he explains that every year he tries to write a poem about a dandelion to track his poetical progress which, although amusing to the audience, is a very innovative way to see how his style changes over time.

Joe seems to have thoroughly enjoyed his time living in Manchester. Of the MMU course itself, he explains that the way it is run is informal, and this seems to have worked for him as it helped him to formulate and develop his own ideas, as well as encouraging him to go out and find extra-curricular activities that have helped him to progress as a writer.

L-R Rebecca Audra Smith, Colin Bancroft, Joe Hobson, Sean O'Brien and David Tait

The night has been a varied one. Each poet who has performed has brought a new, invigorated topic to the attention of the audience. Our postgraduates have performed well, showing the scope and depth of the talent MMU has to offer. Sean O’Brien, too, was a real treat for the audience. Everybody leaves with a smile on their face and with words of praise for all who performed tonight.

Sophie Bannister is Co-chair of Manchester Metropolitan University's English Society, where she is currently in her second year studying English Literature. She hopes to complete a Master's degree after her time at MMU. You can view Sophie's blog here. 

Gothic Postcard Winner is Dead Good

Words by Claudia Conerney

Competition winner Kate Owen

Manchester Metropolitan University is delighted to announce that Kate Owen from Sir John Deane’s College in Cheshire is the winner of the 2012 Postcards from the Dead competition. Entrants were required to write a postcard in no more than 200 words based on the point of view of a fictional character from a gothic novel that they are studying at A-Level. Kate chose to write her entry from the point of view of the house in Edgar Allen Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher. She told us, “the house might not strictly be a character, but when I read the short story I was inspired by the atmosphere of the house. For me, it was as if Poe had created a malevolent entity that could drive people insane and lead them to their deaths and I wanted to have fun exploring that idea.”

Andy Moore, English lecturer at MMU, certainly enjoyed reading her work, “The standard of entries was extremely high and it was very difficult to choose an overall winner. However, Kate’s entry was incredibly imaginative and very well written. The English department at MMU congratulate her on her achievement.”

In addition to a £25 Amazon voucher, Kate’s work will be professionally illustrated and designed and she will receive 100 copies of her postcard.

Congratulations also to our runners up, whose work was highly commended by our judging panel, Luke Percival from Saints Peter and Paul Catholic College in Widnes, Heather Dowling from Sir John Deane’s College in Cheshire and Victoria Waterhouse from Cronton Sixth Form College in Cheshire. 

‘Postcards from the Dead’ is a subsidiary of our main competition, ‘Postcards from the Past’. For further details about the rules and how to enter, please visit http://www.mcln.org.uk/ or visit the Postcards from the Past blog  here.